Property market watch

Even in the mansions, they're feeling the credit crunch. By Ross Clark

Kensington, W8

Don't let anyone tell you that the upper end of the market is immune from the property slump. It isn't so. The number of property sales has been on the slide all year, but the collapse in completed sales in June was remarkable - and this is true in prime London areas.

In 2007, the postcode district W8, according to the Land Registry, recorded 396 sales - an average of 33 a month. In June this year, by contrast, just eight sales were completed. They ranged from a flat in Carlyle Mansions, which sold for £475,000, to number 26 Phillimore Gardens, which sold for £10million. As for the super-prime market - that above £10million, such as homes in Kensington Palace Gardens, far right, which we are frequently told has carried on regardless of the credit crunch, there simply were no sales at all.

The Rightmove website records that there are 280 properties currently for sale in W8. At the current rate, it would take nearly three years to sell all these. However, the few vendors who managed to achieve a sale in June achieved prices significantly higher than in 2006. Number 43 Troy Court, Kensington High Street, sold for £590,000 in May 2006 and for £860,000 this June. Flat 15, Zetland House, Marloes Road, sold for £1.45million in August 2006 and £2.7million in June.

Hampstead, NW3

In Hampstead, left, the collapse in sales is even greater. NW3 registered just eight sales in June. Yet this is a far bigger district than W8, which recorded 1,028 sales in 2007, an average of 85 a month. Rightmove is carrying 740 properties for sale in NW3 - at current rates it would take seven and a half years to shift this lot. There is little activity at the top end of the market: the most expensive property to sell in NW3 in June was 59 Maresfield Gardens for £2.15million. There is one caveat: owners of the most expensive homes will sometimes wrap them up in private companies so when they sell they are selling the company rather than the house, and no entry appears on the Land Registry.

"Buy a house and get a free car" sounds rather desperate, but it is an offer with which the vendor of Bluebridge House in Long Melford, Suffolk is hoping to entice buyers. There is also the question of whether a fine Grade II* Queen Anne house deserves to have a black Range Rover on its drive, but then this is Lovejoy country with its wideboy antique dealers. The property, for sale through Carter Jonas (01787 882881) has eight bedrooms and stands in 2.5 acres of well-tended gardens.

Just be warned if you were thinking of flogging antiques yourself: a restrictive covenant prevents the selling of wares from the front of the property. It isn't just prime London areas which saw a collapse of sales in June. In England and Wales in June 2007, according to the Land Registry, there were 123,075 sales. In June this year, this collapsed to just 17,680 - a fall of 86 per cent.